22 July
    Today I got to see a guinea pig slaughter. For weddings, the family of the groom has to give a bunch of cuy to the family of the bride. When we arrived, we walked up the the river where about 50 family members were bent over the water scraping hair off of the dead cuy. Next the digestive tract is removed, and so you can see a whole bunch of stomachs and intestines, with formed turds, floating around in the water. The eyes are scraped out, the mouth cut open, a bunch of other gross details. Then the whole pig is thoroughly rinsed and they’re all piled up like pink bean bags. At the end all the pigs are counted, but it is a game to have hidden some. The man counting the cuy shouts out how many are missing and everyone has to find the remaining ones. They are hidden under people’s jackets, in boots, under rocks, literally everywhere. I should also mention that all the while that animals are being cut up and innards removed, several family members are walking around distributing handfuls of sweet popped corn and sips of soda into the sticky hands. Once all the guinea pigs are rounded up, they’re carried up to the family farm to be boiled for a few minutes. Then the remaining organs are separated from the body (not thrown away, mind you), the ribs are broken off, and the feet ripped off. Now they’re ready to be made into the matrimonial stew.
    So I watched all of this, feeling a mix of both complete disgust and fascination, and the fascination completely won out. I just kept thinking that never in my wildest dreams could I have invented a scene of guinea pig preparation like this. How can I possibly still be on earth. The family was incredibly welcoming, and we hung out on the farm all afternoon and had lunch with them - no meat this time, it was the carbohydrate trifecta of pasta, potatoes and rice that seem to be all I get to eat these days. I guess that’s how iron and zinc deficiencies occur…
    While we were eating and chatting one of the men asked where I was from and when I said the United States (los Estados Unidos) he replied, los Estados Judidos. I was caught off guard so I didn’t get a chance to stand up for myself at all. I just said, Si, yo se. As much as I hate that he generalized all the people of the U.S. with the actions of the few powerful, I don’t disagree with him (not that he even knew what he was talking about). I hate the way the U.S. does things. And even more, I hate that anyone would think that I agree with my country’s foreign policy.